Ford EA Falcon, Misfire or something else ?
Ryu
Waikerie, South Australia
Type of Vehicle Ford
Model EA Falcon
Month/Year 6/1989
Kms 235,000
Problem Hard starts when cold, when starts idles nicely and drive well until warm. Even when warm it idles well. When warm and driving it starts to misfire and loose power, ultimately becomes unresponsive to accelerator pedal. Mechanic suggested changing of timing chain, but surely if it was the timing chain it would not idle well when stationary? help
Ryu
This sounds like a potential manifold issue, now I will paraphrase it back to you.
When running at normal operating temperature it starts to misfire
Can you perform something for me please
With the car parked in neutral running at Normal operating temperature can you wait for the misfire then raise the idle speed and tell me if this goes away
Let me know
Friday, March 05, 2010 3:15 PM
Darren
Hi Darren,
Wish you answered last week!
Since I posted the question the car died. I took it in for a tune and it got worse, thats when I posted the query. I took it back and they said that the timing guide was cracked, which was strange as it wasnt running so bad when I initially took it in. The mechanic told me i could drive on it but it would be noisey. I decided it was too noisy to drive and when driving it in to get fixed it threw the chain, missed a cog and died, when they opened her up they discovered she and dropped a cylinder, …not worth fixing. Now I am without a car and have I have lost alot of trust in mechanics! Think I will stick with Honda! Thanks anyway mate.
Gutted
Ryu
Ryu,
I’m really sorry to hear of your experience but was not aware of a noisy timing chain with your first e-mail.
Hope you get back on the horse soon….
Darren
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Hey.
This was actually similar to what is happening to my car. Except my car hasnt got a noise.
When sitting there supposed to be idling. the cars revs would keep going up and down until i turned the revs up and now its gone away.
I have been trying to find a way to fix the problem because while the revs are high its hard to get into reverse.
do you know what the problem is?
Hello Hey,
Ford EA idle problems are common.
The reason for high idle is the base idle needs to be reset, why I’m glad you asked.
The reason why Ford EA start to develop idle problems most of the time it starts with a flat battery, or a battery replacement
Why should this effect the engine idle speed, another great question?
The ECU has a RAM this is fantastic so long as you keep 12 volts supply the vehicles ECU is happy but over time things change
but the RAM holds onto vital information and operates as if nothing has changed
Now when the ECU looses its 12-volt supply so does the RAM then as soon as you start the engine the ECU starts to check all vital information but this time some input values have changed so the result is poor idle speed.
Its known that if the values are within spec the engine ECU will over 250KM correct erratic idle speed, or too high or to low.
This happen to my fathers Car once, so I reset the BASE IDLE and every body lived happily afterwards
How to prevent Your vehicle form poor idle or loosing radio codes
Never operate a vehicle with a potential faulty battery; if you need a battery replacement, this is what you do.
Go to and auto outlet and purchase a 12-volt supply for the cigarette lighter to keep a 12-volt supply whilst changing over the battery
Or if you think this is difficult call a battery man like Marshall’s and ask them you want to keep your radio codes, they should know what your talking about, or just say Darren Said.
Hope this helps
Darren